This is Molly. She is a bichon, but you can't tell from this picture. She typically has a bichon cut, but for some reason, the groomer the owner took her to started cutting her as a poodle. On top of that, She was left severely matted down to the skin.

mats on her chest

The owner wanted Molly to look Bichon, so together we came up with a long term plan. For this visit, the plan was to remove the mats. So I pushed the mats out as far away from the skin as possible. I then shaved the mats off. Surprisingly, I was able to keep 1/2" of hair. (it's usually 1/4 - 1/8" that can be saved) Regarding Molly's muzzle, there was nothing I can do but to wait until it grew out.

Today was her follow up visit. The good news is that she was not mated and that her mom kept her brushed. The bad news is that since moving to Half Moon Bay, she's been able to run around in shrubbery where she caught a tick. I've never seen a tick as it's just not common in the city. I was both excited and grossed out. The pictures below show Molly's first cut grown out and the after picture shows that perhaps her muzzle will be long enough on next visit so that she can go back to looking like a bichon.